Please step out the ray

Received a little something in the post way earlier than expected The other pinion slipper I ordered, slightly different style with an actual spring. Also the 24 and 26 tooth hubless pinions. Interestingly enough the friction material on the second slipper looks the same as the spare friction discs I bought with the first slipper, seems like my idea at the time might have some merit.

Had a few thoughts last night - the Boomerang hubs, they've probably been siting around on a shelf somewhere for 20+ years, there's every chance they were old original stock, how long is the plastic going to last and secondly I dont think i ever checked the steering end points, arrrggghhh what a rookie!

Warning, no real pics, but a little bit of a story from today! From the very start of this project I was fairy specific with what I wanted, that being a Manta Ray built with a little bit of love. I full well knew its not race car and its never going to be fast. However, I always had the intention of giving it track time and seeing if I had any skill left in me from my onroad racing days, some 20 years ago. My mentality from the start was its not going to be the slow non-race car that's the limiting factor in my case and I am fine with that. Today I had the opportunity to go to the one track in town that I know of, some hour plus drive from my home and give the car a proper shake down and see if I could get it round the track half decent. The track is called (to the best of my knowledge) Mitchell Park Raceway and its an outdoor tack that's is super grippy astro turf (I think they call it). It has numerous jumps, but they are not ridiculous and no real nasty barriers that I noticed, pretty much just large diameter rope. I had the track to my self and got in probably circa 30 mins of driving, hard to keep track of time when you're driving, I had an absolute blast and felt, yes I was slow, but I could actually still control the car on the track. The afternoon was picture perfect and the weather was awesome and then the session ended in a way I didn't expect it to... nearing the end of my last battery pack I ran wide on a corner and I just ended up on one of the large diameter barrier ropes and then I quickly noticed the 2 front wheels were no longer parallel-ish... arrrgggh game over for today. I walked down to the car and picked it up and was kinda surprised to see the following: Cant say I've ever experienced this on any car I've had, clean ripped out the ball joint. There's no known issues with Boomerang hubs, is there? I Wouldn't have thought so. So, had a blast, loved every minute of it and slightly disappointed I now have to use the kit hubs that are red, well, for a little while anyway. On the plus side - whilst out that side of town I stopped by a little 3d printer supply shop and got some black filament! Yay, no more red printed parts.

Thanks, it is made by Concorde, on this website. His Top Force is Killa and he's developed a bunch of neat stuff! I would have just flat out purchased his MR chassis brace too, but I don't think his design will clear my ESC fan (it sticks up a fair bit). So I am in the process of building up my own design that clears.

Rapid 20 minute draw and first print tonight. Fits like a glove and the tower is feeling solid as now, even with the super basic shape, that was intended just for test fitting.

The one in the photo is listed as M40B/M40DT and the other one I've purchased is listed as GT10 RS (it also mentions M40S, which just looks like an onroad version).

One of my most absolute favorite things about the build, Manta Ray centre oneway I think I've picked up that oneways are not really a common thing in the offroad scene, but I used to race onroad back in the day and they were the bees knees! I remember loving the way you could throw a car into a corner power on and drive out. And finally, for now.... Something that having only ever been onroad previously, I didn't even know what they were until after starting this build.... Slippers. Iol at myself. It would seem like quite a task to try and fit a normal spur gear style slipper to the TA-01 rear gearbox. Yes, you could design a completely new gearbox from scratch to suit the chassis mounting holes, but for me at the moment, I am not that interested. So, less normal than a spur gear style slipper, a pinion slipper. (I purchased the extra friction discs as they were a few dollars, I was already paying freight and I thought it would be handy to have some extra friction material to play with trying different stuff) The slipper in the photo has friction material either side of the hubless pinion, then a washer, a wavy spring washer, a 'two flats' washer and then the nylock. Not sure how the wavy spring washer will hold up, I am willing to try it at least. The hubless pinion is 0.6M to match the MR gearing, but is only 20 tooth... Arrrrggghhh. So I found a 24 and 26 tooth hubless pinion and ordered them, not here yet. Also ordered another slipper pinion arrangement, that is similar to that pictured above, but with an actual spring (instead of a wavy spring washer), I reckon that will hold up a bit better. we will see. Now obviously I will need to drill holes in the rear gear case to fit it, thats all yet to come. Will update when I get there, probably try to get a few things printed first.

I am still leaning toward some sort of paint... Can't make up mind

I had already thought of trying to tie it into the front 3 screws that hold the front diff to the chassis plate. Reckon it would look, ahh, odd, but would help. Sort of like a skirt from top of the shock tower mount holes draped down to the chassis fixings.

Other side of the fan mount Boomerang Hubs, TF Front CV's, Hinge Pin, King Pin and Hex Drive Whilst assembling various bits and pieces one could not help but notice slop, slop and more slop.... Not sure if its a Tamiya thing, the parts I've used or the fact that the kit is at best entry level, but anyways... So I got a hold of some 0.1mm shims (3mm ID and 5mm ID) and 1mm thick O rings. After I shimmed the front CV's to the small drive pin I noticed I could physically slide the diff C Cups out of the front diff by a few mm's. That's not cool, as it means the splines had way less engagement, so I added just enough O rings within the C cups to keep them in place and spines fully engaged, with no binding. I also chopped up a few O rings to fit the main shaft out drives, as the main shaft seemed to flap from front to back of the car freely, now its steady with no binding. Also, there's a front one way in the front diff casing, but I way cant be bothered pulling it apart to take a photo now.

The hole visible in the MR rear shock tower TA-02 High Speed Gear Set, 4Wd Plastic Gear Set and TF main shaft Completely home brew motor fan (I designed and a mate printed for me, as I didn't have my 3d printer at that stage). Trying to get any sort of heat sink onto the motor in this gear case with the wires is ridiculous btw. (waits for all the wise guys to chime in saying I did this... & I did this... ). No hacking and slashing for the fan mount, uses two standard unused holes.

Few photos of some of the upgrades: Turnbuckles, rear CV's, hub hinge pin and hex drives (which incidentally were just sitting in one of my old parts boxes from a very much loved Yokomo MR4-TC Worlds Replica) Added Concordes' gearbox lid. Should keep the gears in place and happy! Had to trim a few mm's off the back of the lid, as the Manta Ray rear shock tower is recessed in at the mounting point. Another job for the 3d printer is just making a plate for the back of the MR rear shock tower to bolt to Concordes' gearbox lid, exactly as he does for the Top Force. The plate will just be a bit different shape.

I hear what your saying. I think the issue with the MR front shock tower is less related to the material and more to do with the colossal mechanical oversite that exists. I had to laugh, the kit I purchased was a new in box re-release and I thought to myself there's no way that part will still be the same. Open the box and sure enough its completely the same. The fact that the two mounting holes are not holes at all, but "trenches" with material missing, all the way to the back of the part is the issue. I believe whenever there's a twisting force on the top of the tower the whole vertical section can easily flex with respect to the flat mounting surface. It doesn't break straight away, but it doesn't take long to get knackered. The pic shows a completely brand new unused shock tower. I know I could just buy a modified TA-01 shock stay and add the carbon fibre plate from the Top Force, but to me thats not the point. I reckon its possible to come up with a part that addresses the issue shown above and hopefully doesn't compromise the vertical sections (which my memory says were fine).

How do you find the plastic front shock tower?? Even as a kid I remember with very little use it was showing a white line on the plastic (as in strectched and heading towards snapping). I will design & print my own version after I finish the chassis brace, once again taking inspiration from Concordes' posts (alot of cool stuff there) ((I am not using carbon fibre plate!! I didnt have a top force as a kid, I had a manta ray))

Not against using pre-painted, would have to match pretty well, to bother buying another wing for now. Not heaps keen on the fibre look as the wing (chassis plates definitely, not so much the wing). Seriously considering just painting it all white, lots of contrast to most of the body, but loosely tied in with the front. I need to let the idea sit for a bit...